Another in a long line of movies related to demonic possession, The Crucifixion takes us to Bucharest. Father Dumitru (Catalin Babliuc) performs an exorcism on Sister Marinescu (Ada Lupu) but this doesn’t go well and leads to the subject’s death.

Journalist Nicole Rawlins (Sophie Cookson) travels to investigate. This leads her down a dark path in which she attempts to discern if a supernatural cause lurks behind the apparent murder.

Usually films like Crucifixion force comparisons to 1973’s classic The Exorcist, and those do rise here. However, this one also links to 2013’s The Conjuring - mainly because the box art leads us that way.

Crucifixion writers Chad and Carey W. Hayes also penned Conjuring, and both films used real events as their inspiration. Those factors receive prominent display in the movie’s ads.

Both Exorcist and Conjuring made lots of money, though, while Crucifixion exists as a direct-to-video affair. That leads me to believe the studio lacked faith in Crucifixion - and for good reason, as the movie does nothing to stand out in a positive way.

From the very start, Crucifixion seems ham-fisted. We quickly learn that Nicole rejects faith due to the death of her mother, an event that immediately implies she’ll go through a spiritual change of heart.

Does this count as a spoiler? Maybe, but it shouldn’t – how many movie feature a skeptic who maintains that attitude at the end? Few if any follow that path, so Nicole’s “journey” feels trite.

As does everything else about the film. Crucifixion rushes out of the gates and races through its early exposition in an awful hurry, a choice that becomes a problem.

In particular, the lack of real set-up perplexes because once Nicole lands in Romania, the narrative switches gears and becomes a slow slog. Perhaps the filmmakers felt this languid pacing would add to the creepy atmosphere and scares, but it doesn’t.

Instead, Crucifixion just seems stuck in neutral. The plot struggles to muster any energy or momentum, so we find ourselves stuck with one ineffective “scare scene” after another.

Director Xavier Gens manages to imbue Crucifixion with a moderately spooky atmosphere, but he can’t create anything with real terror. This winds up as a sluggish, forgettable stab at supernatural horror.

The Disc Grades: Picture B+/ Audio B/ Bonus D+

The Crucifixion appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.40:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. As expected, the movie presented strong visuals.

At all times, sharpness seemed very good. A smidgen of softness impacted some interior shots, but overall, the film appeared accurate and concise.

Jagged edges and moiré effects didn’t mar the presentation, and I saw no edge haloes. Print flaws also failed to appear.

In terms of palette, Crucifixion went with a heavily teal orientation. Splashes of other hues appeared on occasion, but they remained in a distinct minority in this strong blue affair. Within stylistic choices, the hues seemed well-depicted.

Blacks were dark and dense, and low-light shots gave us good clarity. I felt pleased with this quality transfer.

As for the DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio, it offered a fairly typical horror movie soundscape. This meant a lot of creepy atmosphere and occasional “jolt moments”.

Along with good stereo music, the soundfield was able to open things up in a satisfying manner that embellished the story. The mix didn’t dazzle, but it worked fine.

Audio quality was always good. Music appeared full and rich, while effects demonstrated nice clarity and accuracy.

Speech was natural and distinctive throughout the film. Again, this wasn’t a heavily active track, but it made sense for the story.

The Director’s Vision runs six minutes, 45 seconds and provides notes from director Xavier Gens. He discusses what led him to the project as well as aspects of the production. Gens makes this a decent summary.

A slow, tedious horror affair, The Crucifixion lacks originality. It brings us a predictable tale with little more to it than the usual array of creepy shots and cheap scares. The Blu-ray boasts very good picture along with fairly effective audio and minor supplements. Genre fans can do better than this sluggish effort.